


Not Just Another Mystery

by navaan



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alien Planet, Character Study, F/M, First Meetings, Flirting, Kissing, POV Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-13
Updated: 2015-12-13
Packaged: 2018-05-06 11:42:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5415632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/navaan/pseuds/navaan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Space throws a new mystery her way every day and that's how Jenny likes it. Some mysteries she likes more than others.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Just Another Mystery

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Starjargon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starjargon/gifts).



Space is all she ever wanted.

Which is strange, because she isn’t old enough to even know that, and she ran away to meet with all that space has to give her not a day after she was born. She knows now that most people aren’t born the way she was, that most of them go through childhood, have to grow up to learn how to use a weapon, to think like a soldier and some never figure out what they want.

She’s not a soldier anymore.

She’s not sure _what_ she is, but she has learned that there’s something more to all this and that’s what she wants: something more.

Curiosity is her companion and the whole wide universe her teacher. Nobody can ever tell her that’s not perfect, because she trust her instincts and emotions when it comes to making decisions now. 

Space is right for her. Adventure is the life she chose and she’s never going to regret it.

There is no reason to ever stop.

New experiences are hiding behind every corner.

And something just always comes up, leaving no room to ever get bored. The running is the best part, she feels. Knowing that you did the right thing is might be even better, although she has trouble figuring out how she _knows_ what is the right thing. It seems sometimes she just does.

The Doctor has given her more than just his genes. Or maybe Donna has left an impression. Or Martha.

And what it comes down to is: She knows right from wrong, even if most of the time she has trouble explaining it and sometimes right and wrong are shades of grey more than opposite side of a coin. She is still learning. Life is complex. Easy decisions are rare.

She thinks she learned that from Donna, who had a strong opinion on what is right. She liked Donna. She’ll remember that always. Just like she will remember where she came from, how she came to be, and how she discovered there was much more to the world, to life.

Sometimes she thinks it would be nice to have a home — a place to return to after a day of adventure — but then the next mystery comes her way and she doesn’t even remember the thought for weeks or months. So maybe it’s just a passing fancy, when she’s bored, has nothing to focus on.

As she’s looking out at the streets of Tergon, bustling with life, the only thing she’s sure of is that she doesn’t miss anything right now, but maybe another experience, another adventure, some more running to do, a problem to solve. Her mind hates being idle and her body prefers adrenaline to boredom. She likes to know if that's because she's been built that way or because that's all _her_. 

She loves cities, especially the towering ones, with skyscrapers and watchtowers and diverse populations, the ones where all the different species of the sector mix and mingle like they’ve always known each other and share knowledge — share life. It’s not always peaceful and there is conflict, but also growth and collaboration and learning. Wonders wait behind every corner. Struggle and wonders, they go hand in hand and it's fantastic.

And she’s ready to meet them, all the wonders, all the experiences.

A prickly strange feeling descends on her, her skin is tingling strangely and she scrunches up her nose. Something isn’t right. She turns to look around the viewing platform to find whatever it is that makes her hair stand on end, but there’s nothing strange or evil around, not that he can see. The feeling isn’t exactly unpleasant upon closer examination, just like her emotions are running haywire the way they sometimes do when something really exciting is going on.

That’s when she sees _him_. He’s leaning casually against a balustrade with the posture of a man who is at home in this time and place, but his coat, something about the colours he’s wearing makes him stand out like a foreigner, an anachronism. Nobody here wears coats like that. Not even the Doctor’s coat had been like that, although she thinks it was similar and just as out of place.

She can’t look away as he’s standing there. 

When he turns away from the city she sees he’s not only an attractive human, but has dazzling blue eyes. She grins.

That catches his eye and he smiles back.

She’s new to life, but she’s no longer new to this. Over the last months she’s learned about herself, and she has charm. She has learned to wield it, too.

Of course, _that_ is when a shadow falls over the city. People look up, surprised, then scared. A massive spaceship has appeared in the sky, darkening the beautiful sunny day, the threat clear. Air space above the city doesn’t even allow small aircrafts.

Damn.

She has been looking forward to figuring out the mystery with the blue eyes more than anything, but it seemed there was a different kind of dancing around to do.

She could deal.

She activates her ships teleport remotely and is out of the panicked crowd, before anyone has even really understood what’s happening. The Sontarans don’t know what hit them, as she just appears in the middle of their command centre and it takes her just one second to interfere with all their systems. It's lucky that she has fiddled with a little blackout box since she first ran into a Dalek that had wanted to exterminate her just because she had two hearts. Or actually because it wanted to exterminate everything.

It comes in handy now.

The shots ring out and she dives out of the way, before anyone can hit her.

Running down the corridor is probably a stupid idea, but it will take another ten minutes before she can use her own ship's teleport capability again. She turns a corner sharply and topples hard into a strong and much too tall body there. The impact makes her crash back and into a metal wall with a grunt.

“Whoa,” a male voice says. “Careful there, sweetheart.” 

She looks up in surprise, noticing for the first time, that the strange feeling is back; the world feels like it had made one step to the side and it’s strange and just for a moment disorienting, but then it feels intriguing again. “It’s you,” she says in surprise and the man grins at her, recognizing her too. But she isn’t sure if she is talking about him being the guy she found intriguing or him being the source of that strange and powerful strangeness she is feeling. There is no time to ponder either of these options as the Sontarans follow them on their stubby legs and fire at will.

She laughs despite herself, as she takes his hand and pulls him along and unexpectedly he laughs too. “What did you do?”

“Messed up their control centre. Come on! Run for your life.”

To her absolute delight he again laughs loudly and follows easily. “They can’t move?” he asks.

“Better. The moment they reboot they will find that the ship is going on auto and new coordinates have been set. They’ll be out of here as fast as they’ve come.”

They round a corner and Jenny pulls her new friend into an open door. She tries to close it behind them, but he hold up his arm and presses a few buttons on a device on his arm. “Is that a vortex manipulator? That’s how you got here? That's awesome. It's the first time I'm seeing one up close.”

“Yeah,” he admits with a sheepish smile. “I did not expect to have company up here.”

“Apart from Sontarans?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m Jenny,” she tells him and grins widely. “And I love danger. Nice to meet you properly.”

He looks taken aback. “Hello. I’m Jack. Want to hitch a ride back down to the planet?” 

“Why not?” She doesn’t hesitate, but hops over to him, her arms latching onto his strong shoulders like that was the invitation. This close she can smell the pheromones, enticing and beckoning. It’s still just a backdrop to the intriguing tingling feeling that surrounds him. 

The Vortex Manipulator transports them down. It’s the same strange feeling in her belly, like when her own ship’s transporter does it, but even when she blinks out of focus and back she’s hyper-aware of his presence. “You are always there. How can that be. I can feel you,” she breathes when they appear back on solid ground. His arms are around her holding her steady. People are cheering around them, as the Sontaran ship above them starts moving and then is gone as quickly as it appeared. 

But he blinks down at her, surprised by the words.

And she thinks he’s not used to being surprised by others. He’s used to being the mystery.

She likes that. It reminds her of what she wanted to do before the Sontarans interfered with her afternoon plans and thinks that now that she’s gone through all the trouble of introducing herself she might as well leave out a few steps. She leans up to kiss him.

 _They_ kiss.

And, wow, does he know how to kiss.

It leaves her light headed and breathless — and there is always this alluring draw, the feeling that this is different, that this person calling himself Jack is _different_ from anyone she's ever met.

This is just a kiss. And only the beginning.

Jenny has found a new mystery to unravel.

And for this one she’s been waiting.

Just like with space, she just knows.

“It’s really nice to meet you, Jenny,” he says and his blue eyes are glinting.

“Likewise, Jack. Let me buy you a drink, huh?”

For some reason that makes him grin even wider. “Why not?”

He looks at her as if he’s looking at an enticing riddle. But Jenny has already decided who is going to unravel who here. It’s going to be an exciting experience. And perhaps she’s found someone to share the danger and running with. 

Life is complex.

But some decisions are easy.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Dazzle and Mysteries](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12049320) by [AuroraCloud](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuroraCloud/pseuds/AuroraCloud)




End file.
